


At A Distance

by twilightfire



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Community: thegameison_sh, Family, Gen, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-13
Updated: 2012-03-13
Packaged: 2017-11-01 22:08:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/361805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twilightfire/pseuds/twilightfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Mycroft gains power and influence in the world, he finds himself losing it in regards to his brother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At A Distance

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Round 3 of [thegameison_sh](http://thegameison-sh.livejournal.com), for the prompt 'lost and found'.

Mycroft was seven when Sherlock was born, and he immediately instated himself as his younger brother’s protector. No one got near Sherlock without his approval, and each one of Sherlock’s bottles had to meet Mycroft’s rigorous requirements.

Under Mycroft’s rule, three nannies were reduced to tears and most of the servants ended up resigning. His parents simply indulged their son in his idiosyncrasies; after all, before Sherlock was born, all of Mycroft’s attention had been focused on taking over the British Isles one town at a time. He was already the puppet master for five of them. 

When Sherlock was old enough to crawl, he was getting into absolutely everything, and Mycroft barely managed to be one step ahead of him each time. As they both got older and Sherlock discovered subjects such as biology, and chemistry, Mycroft found himself forced to stay as many as five steps ahead.

It wasn’t until Sherlock was five and Mycroft was twelve that he realized he could delegate people to watch Sherlock and keep him out of trouble. This was primarily out of necessity, as the Holmes were quite tired of Mycroft being Sherlock’s primary caregiver (this may be partially attributed to Sherlock’s calling Mycroft ‘ma’ when he first started talking) and wanted to regain control of their two headstrong sons.

So then it was that Mycroft was sent off for further learning and Sherlock was left at home.

Mycroft’s minions kept an eye on Sherlock, but that was all they could do. They couldn’t step in when Sherlock started stalking the local fauna and trying on Mummy’s best evening wear. They couldn’t step in when the local boys decided that Sherlock made a fine target now that Mycroft was out of the picture. They couldn’t even step in when Sherlock decided to figure out how the family’s town car worked.

Most of the servants left, there would be no nanny who would stay for more than two hours, and most of the tutors had to be heavily bribed in order to stay and educate Sherlock. His parents tried, but even they couldn’t do what Mycroft accomplished.

Thus it was that Sherlock grew, and became more and more uncontrollable. Meanwhile, Mycroft was learning and growing and had resumed his previous attempts at taking over the British Isles. By the time Sherlock was fifteen, he had succeeded.

Unfortunately, during this time Mycroft had lost something that he would never regain. He lost Sherlock’s respect, as he hadn’t been seen or heard from for over seven years. He lost any control he might have had in Sherlock’s life, as there was no possible reason that Sherlock would listen to his estranged brother. He lost seeing most of Sherlock’s childhood, as not even his people could tell him everything about Sherlock’s activities, and left out much of what they relayed.

Mycroft found himself fighting Sherlock for those things he lost, and while he had a small amount of control over Sherlock’s life in later years, that was all he had. He still held out hope that he would regain Sherlock’s love and respect, but all he seemed to gain in return was scorn. However, Sherlock’s childhood was out of his reach, forever.

Mycroft at times wished that he’d defied his parents, or kept in touch, or put his career plans on hold. He’d been naïve to think that after years of his absence, that things would stay the same, that he would have no regrets.

Now, all he could hope for was that Sherlock could find that last shred of love and respect left in his body…and direct it towards him, so he could have that which he had once lost.

Perhaps then he could experience life with his brother in person, rather than at a distance.


End file.
